George Robert Elsmie CSI (31 October 1838 – 26 March 1909) was a Scottish civil servant and judge in India, known also as an author.
Born at Aberdeen on 31 October 1838, he was only child of George Elsmie, a ship-owner there and from 1843 on the Southampton staff of the Royal Mail Steam Packet Company; his mother was Anne (1804-1879), daughter of Robert Shepherd, parish minister of Daviot, Aberdeenshire.
Educated at private schools at Southampton and from 1852 to 1855 at Marischal College, Aberdeen, Elsmie was studying German at Canstatt in August 1855, when he was nominated to a writership in India by his maternal uncle John Shepherd.
[1] Arriving in India on 12 February 1858, Elsmie was appointed assistant commissioner in the Punjab, and served in various districts until 1863, when he acted as a judge of the small causes courts at Lahore, Delhi, and Simla.
In agreement with its recommendations the Lahore commissionership was enlarged in area and relieved of judicial appellate work, and Elsmie was appointed again in February 1885.
He was on special duty for the Rawalpindi durbar for Lord Dufferin to meet the Amir Abdur Rahman Khan (April 1885) and was vice-chancellor of Punjab University (1885-7).